Lightweight boot having constricting tie



Feb. 16, 1954 J. .1. MARX 2,669,035

LIGHTWEIGHT BOOT HAVING CONSTRICTING TIE Filed July 27 1951 INVENTOR.

A T roams Y5.

Patented Feb. 16, 1954 invennen reldts approxiinateiy ankl h 1 n isny'sststie rsr tlieatt1re"6f" lad i. are s'oil'ight in nature that they b onand ear'fie'din a ladyfs pii'rs yet they preteen-onset omy fb'rtnefadysshci's; beta fof'tlie ank epn rnonspr ianynireenyinpack"vvnerespwsnmgis: inter apt to takeplace. These ladies boiits ir' rsftr'ieatea kadcbidifigtdtlie process disclosed in application Seria1 No. 84;952,filed April l, 19%), tor Rubber Footwea'rfi" new" Patent Nuinb'eii2617258; g'YaTnted November n 12152"; sharper-waned Serial No.130,504gfiled December 1,1949; for Rubber Boot? Since abanlidned.

One of the problems wi'i-ich is solved by" the laiiys 'boot- 'o'f thisinvention is' that ofith-diffioiflty of drawing the boot over the footaifid shoe. I i-"the? ankle-portion of an=ordineiry boot issimieiennyloos"so that the boot-is easily di'aiyfr over the feet and shoe, thenthe-fitabout-ttfe ankle s n-stems sloppy but the ankle efivelopi-h'gsleeye teiid :tb wrinkle and fall downlake a lbhs-sock. material is notwasted, however sin Ii dn the otlier hand, the fit o ver -the nine enbedesfi itied iaiifteti efiitoiit ncn is Snusi then it is dimeuieror tlid-la dy to 2'5 generalist; pull the bodt on. i i-id 9: 6k

Due to the light nature of the latex film from t ed; it is not practicallga .,..,, eei einve ted. rgm=- net anther new or the best spehtiyely afll 'afi'd Flt e which the boot i's'"fabri b'oo't where these tvvdfiapsrife'etf tlie rubber ms or cbifiinient to use ladiiigsbuckles,nsaers dr terial is cut onti'circularly toi'relieveit'df'stressesethenheayi 'fasteningssuchfis df convehtitfiially 3T) causedibi 'st e eThe tw h k d'fi ps HI employed for high shoes, boots and galoshes, andII comprise splash guards which are designed and further, the necessityof manipulating any to protect ladies stockings, the back one being typeof tightening or fastening device adds perhigher than the front one. Theback flap, in ceptibly to the inconvenience to the wearer of theaddition, serves as a convenient handle to assist article, particularlyif manual operations in the in slipping the boot on. vicinity of thefeet are diflicult or arduous for the The lower port f the boot, that twearer, as often happens in cases of arthritis and shoe envelope,indicated at l2, may be made in obesity. different styles to conform todiiferent shoe The present invention solves this difficulty by h p asdesired. The sleeve p r i n of h b ot. providing a simple rubber tiewhich may be dis- 40 indicated at l3, which rises from the shoe enposedin any location about the ankle section of velop i e fi n y large irc mfy the boot. The rubber tie, itself, comprises a linear so that the bootcan be pulled Over a Shoe yrubber band which has two fiaredends. Thistie s extra material is gathered, in the tance is passed through spacedapertures in the ankle shown, at the front of the boot by a tie,indicated portion, the length of the rubber band and the generally at ItWill be understood, however, spacing of the apertures being such as toprovide that the tie may be placed in any position around a. gatheringaction. The flared ends take the the sleeve; the position beingdependent p place of knots to prevent the band from sliding the stylingdesired. For example, ties may be through the apertures. Therefore, theunre- 'placed on the two outer sides of a pair of boots, strictedcircumference of the ankle portion of or even at the backs if desired.In the preferred the boot may be sufficient to permit the boot toembodiment, the tie comprises a rubber lineal be put on very easily, yetthe gathering provides band portion I5 and a pair of flared ends l6. Thea snug fit about the ankle and otherwise improves ends may be confi urad as desired for different the appearance of the boot. The bootstretches styling efiects, as long as a shoulder portion such moreeasily because of the gathering due to the as the one shown at I! isprovided between the 3 relatively narrow lineal band portion l and theflared ends.

The rubber tie is threaded into place as shown in Figure 3. Two pairs ofapertures 18 are cut through the latex material, in this instance at thefront, with the pairs being spaced apart a suiiicient distance so thatwhen the tie I4 is in place as shown in Figure 2, the excess material ofthe sleeve is gathered in a pleat between them. The amount of materialso gathered is dependent upon the spacing of the shoulder portions I lof the ties, this distance being substantially less than the distancebetween the outer apertures of each pair l8 to provide a snug fit. Whenthe material is gathered, the lineal band portion [5 of the tie isrelaxed, however, when the boot is pulled over a shoe, it is only thisportion of the boot that is stretched. The sleeve material between thepairs of apertures being gathered, simply unfolds. This condition isshown in Figure 4.

It will be appreciated that the resistance to stretching ofiered by therelatively thin band I5 is very slight when compared by the resistanceoffered by the boot material. Thus, by making the sleeve portion of theboot large enough to slip over a shoe without binding, and utilizing thetie disclosed, the boots of this invention are quite easy to put on andtake off; but, at the same time, when on, fit the ankle of the wearersnugly. Besides these utilitarian features, the boots of this inventionare susceptible to many modifications in styling. The boots are quiteattractive with the gathered pleat located at the front as shown; but inaddition to this, by utilizing the principles of the invention, pleatsof other types may be formed at other places, and thus, this, incombination with different configurations for the upper end of thesleeve, makes possible an endless variety of. styling changes. Also, ashas been suggested above, the flaps at the two ends of the tie may becut in different shapes as desired.

Having described my invention, I claim:

In a light-weight boot made of stretchable material, said boot having anankle protecting sleeve which is sufiiciently large circumferential'lyto slip over a shoe without binding, a tie for said sleeve adapted togather said sleeve to provide a snug fit about the ankle of the wearer,said tie 7 being made of readily stretchable elastic sheet materialconfigurated to provide a band portion terminating in fiared endportions, said flared end portions providing shoulders at the respectiveends of said band portion, said sleeve having two pairs of aperturesspaced apart circumferentially, the two most distantly spaced aperturesof the respective pairs of. apertures being spaced apart a distancesubstantially greater than the length of the band portion of the tiewhen said tie is unstretched, the respective apertures being no greaterin diameter than the width of said band portion when the sleeve portionof the boot is unrestricted but of sufiicient diameter to permit aflared end portion of the tie to be forcibly threaded therethrough uponstretching of the sleeve material to enlarge the apertures and uponstretching a flared end portion of the tie lengthwise to decrease itswidth, said tie being threaded through both pairs of apertures anddisposed with the flared end portions thereof exposed outside of thesleeve and with the shoulders at the respective ends of the band portionadjacent the two most distantly spaced of the apertures of therespective pairs to prevent the flared end portions from being withdrawnthrough the apertures upon stretching of the band portion incident tothe slipping of the boot over a shoe.

JOE J. MARX.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date D. 161,901 Bushway Feb. 13, 1951 144,810 Watkinson Nov. 18,1873 251,272 Moller Dec. 20, 1881 540,703 Trimble June 11, 1895 562,114Benford June 16, 1896 897,287 Hearn Sept. 1, 1908 1,447,586 Zucker 1.Mar. 6, 1923 1,966,185 Reh July 10, 1934 2,094,091 Bancroft Sept. 28,1937 2,119,238 Judkins May 31, 1938 2,317,870 Weinstat Apr. 27, 19432,508,031 Kennedy May 16, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date958,758 France Sept. 19, 1949

